Four days after Hamas's surprise October 7 attack on Israel, Netanyahu and another opposition leader, Benny Gantz, announced an agreement to form an "emergency government" for the duration of the war. Lapid said at the time he would not be joining, accusing Israeli leaders of an "unpardonable failure" for not...

Parliament's law committee approved the proposal, which would limit the "reasonability" clause that allows the judiciary to strike down government decisions, in a marathon debate that ended late on Wednesday. After the panel's endorsement, "with nine Knesset members supporting and seven opposing" according to a statement from parliament, the bill...

The demonstrators have kept up the pressure with weekly rallies against Netanyahu, who returned to power last December at the head of a coalition with ultra-Orthodox Jewish and extreme-right parties. Although there were no figures immediately available for the number of people who demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday, the...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government's proposals would curtail the authority of the Supreme Court and give politicians greater powers over the selection of judges. Opponents regard them as a threat to Israeli democracy and US President Joe Biden is one of several Israeli allies to have voiced concern.

JERUSALEM -  Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday testified at a Jerusalem court in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ongoing corruption trial. His arrival at the court at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT) was confirmed by two AFP journalists. Lapid's testimony forms part of a case in which Netanyahu is...

Netanyahu, in a televised address, said he was determined to advance the reforms but wanted to reach a solution acceptable to both supporters and critics of the proposal. Lawmakers earlier on Thursday approved legislation restricting grounds for declaring a premier unfit for office, a move opposition chief Yair Lapid called...

Lawmakers voted by 63 to 47 to give more weight to the government in the committee that selects judges, and to deny courts the right to rule on legislation they deem in conflict with so-called Basic Laws, Israel's quasi constitution. Tens of thousands had protested on the streets of Jerusalem...

The demonstration was the largest so far since Lapid's successor Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power last month at the head of the most right-wing government in the country's history. Some 100,000 protesters turned out in central Tel Aviv, filling the streets with blue and white national flags.

After November elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power last week, heading what analysts call the most right-wing government in the country's history, including with plans to reform the judicial system.

During his brief premiership, Lapid adopted a more conciliatory approach, approving a modest increase in the number of Israeli work permits issued to Palestinians from the blockaded Gaza Strip and using his speech to the UN General Assembly in September to express support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian...

Blinken voiced "his deep concern over the situation in the West Bank, including heightened tensions, violence and loss of both Israeli and Palestinian lives, and underscored the need for all parties to urgently de-escalate the situation." The West Bank has seen near-daily army raids and an increase in clashes and...

Such a scenario has led to despondency among many Arab-Israelis -- who make up around 20 percent of the population -- potentially denting their turnout. "We need to work harder, first of all, to convince people to go out and vote," Aida Touma-Suleiman, from the Hadash-Taal alliance, told AFP.

Lapid sails into the November 1 election just days after a diplomatic breakthrough -- finalising a landmark maritime border deal with foe Lebanon that unlocks offshore gas riches for both sides. Netanyahu, meanwhile, is hoping his record 15 years in power can convince the electorate that only he has the...

UN chief Antonio Guterres said he "strongly" believed the deal can promote stability in the region and create "enhanced prosperity for the Lebanese and Israeli peoples". The deal comes as Lebanon hopes to extract itself from what the World Bank calls one of the world's worst economic crises in modern...

Jerusalem, Undefined—Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday claimed Israel's foe Lebanon de-facto "recognizes" the Jewish state, due to a sea border deal the two states are set to sign imminently. "This is a political achievement -- it is not every day that an enemy state recognizes the State of Israel, in...

Israel, with its turbulent politics, heads back to the polls next Tuesday, for the fifth general election in less than four years. Historically, Israeli voting patterns have been shaped by religious and ethnic affiliation and, most importantly, views on the Palestinian conflict. But this time, ahead of the November 1...

The Palestinian health ministry said five people were killed in Nablus in the northern West Bank, where Israel confirmed an overnight operation targeted the group, which it blames for multiple recent attacks. Another Palestinian died from a gunshot wound to the chest during overnight clashes with Israeli forces in Nabi...

Lapid described the move as a "hasty response", adding that Israel can only hope that the Australian government manages other matters more seriously and professionally. Jerusalem, he said, is the eternal and united capital of Israel and nothing will ever change that.

Violence has surged in recent months in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, amid near daily West Bank raids and an uptick in attacks on Israeli troops. The Israeli army said the soldier, identified as 21-year-old Ido Baroukh, was killed when "two assailants arrived in a vehicle adjacent to the community of Shavei...

Hours after two Palestinian teenagers were shot dead in an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops were looking for an assailant who killed a soldier at an east Jerusalem checkpoint. The soldier had been "killed as a result of being critically injured by a shooting attack" in...

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed thanked Prime Minister Lapid for the warm reception during his recent visit at the head of an official delegation to Israel.

The premier reiterated his long-held position that a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was in Israel's interest, a notion that faded during Netanyahu's 2009-2021 tenure as prime minister. Lapid contended a large majority of Israelis supported a two-state solution, "and I am one of them".

For the past 10 days, various officials have suggested the deal - which US then-president Donald Trump scrapped in 2018 - might not be renewed until at least mid-November, a deadline that Lapid has tried to use to push the West to impose a tougher approach in their negotiations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, a month after the countries announced the restoration of diplomatic ties following years of tensions. Lapid "brought up the issue of missing and captive Israelis and the importance of...

After two years of pandemic restrictions and video addresses, the UN General Assembly is again asking leaders to come in person if they wish to speak with a sole exception made for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But the death of Queen Elizabeth II disrupted the summit anew. President Joe Biden...

Lapid's office said he would travel to New York on Monday night, ahead of an address to the General Assembly on Thursday. A source said the meeting with Erdogan would take place on Tuesday. It came as Israel's armed forces chief Lieutenant General Aviv Kohavi announced his first visit to...

The two leaders reviewed issues of common interest, regional and international developments, and ways to enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East.

Momentum that built towards a restored agreement last month appears to have slowed, after the three European nations party to the agreement Germany, France and Britain on Saturday raised "serious doubts" about Iran's sincerity in restoring the deal.

Israel says the Karish field is located entirely within its exclusive economic zone, but Lebanon insists that part of the field falls within its own waters. The US has mediated in the dispute, which escalated in early June when Energean brought a production vessel into the field.

Cohen, who headed the Council of Torah Sages, the highest body in the Shas party, had been at the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem when his health deteriorated on Sunday evening, according to his family. "On behalf of the Israeli government and all the Israeli people, I send my condolences to...

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid hailed the step as an "important asset for regional stability and very important economic news for the citizens" of the Jewish state. Lapid's office said the decision to resume ties would see ambassadors and consuls general posted to the two countries once more and direct...

Recent media reports had said that Eisenkot, chief of staff from 2015 to 2019, was being courted by political parties including Prime Minister Yair Lapid's centrist Yesh Atid.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday upped pressure on the United Nations to disband a commission investigating Israel, appealing to the secretary-general over "anti-Semitic" remarks from a member of the body.

US President Joe Biden will meet Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank Friday, with talks expected to focus on economic measures but without striking any major diplomatic breakthrough.  Bethlehem marks the latest stop on Biden's Middle East tour, following meetings with Israeli officials and ahead of a...

The US will use "all elements of its national power" to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, President Joe Biden pledged in a security declaration signed with Israel on Thursday. In the document inked by Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Jerusalem, the two countries "reaffirm the unbreakable...

Israel hopes US President Joe Biden's Middle East tour will hail the start of diplomatic ties between the country and Saudi Arabia, a senior Israeli official said Tuesday.

Iran and its influence in the Middle East took center stage on Tuesday in talks between Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid with French President Emmanuel Macron during Lapid's first trip abroad in office.

The coalition government came apart last week after some Arab lawmakers refused to renew a measure that ensures the roughly 475,000 Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank live under Israeli law.

Israel's parliament is expected to dissolve Wednesday, ending Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's year-long tenure and triggering a fifth election in less than four years that could see ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu reclaim power.  Barring an 11th-hour shock agreement to save the coalition or form a new government within the existing parliament,...

Once parliament dissolves, Israel's caretaker government will be headed by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, in accordance with a power-sharing deal the pair reached.

Blinken, in a telephone call to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who will become caretaker prime minister confirmed that President Joe Biden still plans to visit Israel next month

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday his governing coalition will dissolve parliament next week, a shock announcement that will give power to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in days and force new elections. Bennett and Lapid forged an ideologically disparate alliance one year ago, counting eight-parties broadly united on the...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Israel and Palestinians to “end the cycle of violence”, amid rising tensions between the two sides. Mr Blinken called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid separately on Tuesday.

The deepening alliance between Israel and several Arab states "intimidates and deters" Iran, Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Monday as he hosted an unprecedented meeting with four Arab foreign ministers.

A series of meetings would be attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts from the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco.

Morocco and Israel have marked the first anniversary of the US-sponsored resumption of diplomatic relations between them.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat told AFP Greece and Cyprus had agreed to send firefighting planes to Israel

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is expected to meet on Wednesday with his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, and open a diplomatic representation on Thursday in the capital Rabat

Lapid's trip comes after the nations moved to normalise ties Israel, UAE have signed a raft of deals ranging from tourism to aviation Israel's top diplomat Yair Lapid opened the Jewish state's first embassy in the Gulf during a trip to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday after ties were...

Yair Lapid is the first ever Israeli minister to officially visit the UAE Since the normalization accord with the UAE was brokered by then US president Donald   Israel's top diplomat Yair Lapid on Tuesday began the first ever official visit by an Israeli minister to the United Arab Emirates,...